Thursday, June 9, 2016

Dev update #14 - New user interface

RiftCat graphical update

As part of our vision to make virtual reality appeal to everyone we made improvements to our GUI design to make it more consistent across RiftCat apps & website. We applied Material Design guidelines and optimized what we could to improve the RiftCat experience. One picture is worth a thousand words so we decided to show what VRidge actually does in a simple and understandable way.

Simplified library

We decided to get rid of the "Store" tab. Instead, we made every game visible in the users Library. The process of adding the games to library first was overly complex. Access to games available on RiftCat platform is much faster now.

Unified PC settings window

We combined RiftCat settings and VRidge streaming/tracking settings into one window.

Mobile app UI improvements

Easier game starting

Starting SteamVR should be easier now. The leftmost button will now automatically install our driver and then start SteamVR. If no SteamVR is present it will open SteamVR install dialog. We also clarified what Oculus SDK versions are working.

Some QOL and minor changes

You can add custom Oculus SDK games to RiftCat client if you want to have everything in one place.

You can reconfigure keybinding to reset head orientation (keyboard only for now, we'll try to add something for controllers too).

No more beta claiming/keys. Everyone registered will have beta access until the beta ends.

Rotation calibration/offset for SteamVR

One user asked us to provide a way to offset rotational data because some gyroscopes have calibration problems so we added this option. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\ and open steamvr.vrsettings in notepad. Go to vridge section - it will look like this:

Virtual reality mode got removed

Almost no one used it so we had to part ways with it. There is plenty of better software of that kind in the market that VRidge can handle. Thanks to that, RiftCat client got thinner.

Beta ending soon

On June 20th open beta will end and VRidge will transition into paid/early-access stage. More info & pricing details will be available closer to release. Don't worry, we're keeping our promise about staying in indie-tier price range.

What's next?

We'll be busy with 1.0 launch during next week and the one after. We still need to finish some descriptions / instructions and promo graphics. After we're done with launch stuff we'll start working on the fun parts again - device compatibility, image quality and performance/heat optimizations. We've got a lot of ideas for new features too so keep following us here and on social media.

Thank you for all the support, feedback, bug reports. We launched our public beta exactly three months ago and it has been wild and amazing ride. We have no plans to stop development any time soon and we are motivated to keep working on VRidge as long as people keep using it. :)

Any time estimate on when you will add Vive controller emulation with Wiimotes or PS Move? I know that there are guides online, but I haven't had much luck. Good update this week though, the UI looks really nice.

Thanks for the better interface and polish, this certainly is a step up! I've been following Riftcat for the last 2 months and look forward to every blog update, I can also see this going quite far. My only question and part of checking every week is to see whether the Gear VR and it's sensors would get any support? Once this is supported (which makes VR in general more comfortable to use VS cardboard) then I look forward to paying even a premium for a fully fledged capable application. I understand that there are more than a million Gear VRs in use so can imagine there might be a market for this.

Thank you for the update! New interface looks very nice and works fast. Special thanks for calibration offsets - it works just fine!Found a little bug - steaming settings not saving after restarting RiftCat. At least resolution and bitrate resets to 1280x720 and 10 Mbps. (I set 2560x1440 and 23 Mbps) Quality preset is Custom. It saved successfully in previous version.

hey guys,On the latest update I have noticed a lot more artifacts then the previous release of vridge while play project cars. I am using a Sony Z5 Premium. I am connected through my phones wifi hotspot and the connection seems nice and solid. Have also tried turning on the snapdragon option which made no difference. Also tested by turning the quality down to low with the same results. Normally I could run it fine in the previous version 2560x1440. Cheers guys.

Frames lost were not increasing when the artifacts where popping up. It did not seem like I was really loosing frames. Only that black artifacts pop up real quick in the top half of the screen. Tried also playing around with the render timing mode which did not help.

I'm sorry but I can't see any artifacting on these photos. Can you circle around the invalid areas in Paint? Besides that's the PC side on the photo. Are the artifacts on the PC side too or Android side only?

Hi, I am getting a blackscreen after a few minutes in Lab and Lightsaber(Steamvr) with a LG G4. Stats and Tracking are working but to remove the blackscreen after it happend I have to restart vringe. There arent frames lost at stats if that help.

Yes, i use leap motion. But it recognize my hands, i can view all the things on my Computer. All is working even when blackscreen happens. It is radomly and Riftcat log dont seem to recognize it. On my Phone i didnt search for the logfile yet.

Yes, i use leap motion. But it recognize my hands, i can view all the things on my Computer. All is working even when blackscreen happens. It is radomly and Riftcat log dont seem to recognize it. On my Phone i didnt search for the logfile yet.

Hi, I have a question. Can we see RoomScale in the Future? I think a lot of people(like me) waiting for this. If it come a lot of player going to buy RiftCat. And what do you think about RiftCat's price we are so excited about this.

It's me again (the one with the 4x). I noticed that i can open the app if i turn wifi off on the phone, but the app then crashes immediately when the phone gets connection again or if connected to the pc by usb.After further investigation i have concluded that the crashing occurs when it gets connection to the RiftCat Client (turning off wifi on my laptop or just closing the client lets me start the app without any problem)./ Adam

Can any of you guys send us VRidge's android logs (logcat)? If you are rooted you can use app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawson.logcat&hl=pl) but if you aren't rooted you need to install part of Android Dev kit.

The simplest way would be using this minimal ADB server:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48915118#post48915118

After you have ADB installed on your system please reproduce the crashing scenario with your phone and then gather phone logs according to this help post:https://support.riftcat.com/hc/en-us/articles/208077055-Infinite-restoring-connection-to-active-session-loop

I've tried to get the logs all day without any success (I'm a noob at these kind of things..). On another note, I just tried installing version 0.8.8 of the app and it connected to the computer right away!

I have exactly the same proble that Adam F, describes, as he says if I turn off the Wifi the APP don't closes, but the moment I turn it On the APP closes, If I try the same via USB Tethering it closes too.

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